One of Steven LaTourette's last acts as a U.S. congressman was to help secure funding for the Kinsman sewer project in northern Trumbull County. But the real story here is how well local, state and federal officials worked across party lines to cut through a bureaucratic maze and solve a serious five-year-old problem.
Five years ago the Ohio EPA found a health risk because of failing or malfunctioning septic systems, a problem that continues to plague much of the county. This ''area of concern'' includes nearly 350 buildings that need connected to sanitary sewers. The cost is about $12 million, something neither the property owners nor the county have.
County officials worked on obtaining a mix of loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Ohio EPA and the Community Development Block Grant plus payments from the affected property owners. But here's how the government complicated the effort:
The USDA offered a $4.3 million grant and $4.9 million low-interest loan. The Ohio EPA offered a $2.9 million interest-free loan, half of which would be principal forgiveness. Trumbull also secured a $1.4 million public works grant and $1.2 million block grant. That's more than enough, so Trumbull wanted to reduce the USDA loan amount to save on interest.
Word came that the USDA would reduce its grant amount but maybe not the loan amount and that the other grants could be used directly on the project only, not to pay off the USDA loan early.
It took election-year influence from U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican, U.S. Reps. LaTourette, a Republican, and Tim Ryan, a Democratic, to convince the federal government to reduce how much Trumbull would borrow. It also helped that J. Anthony Logan, a Kinsman native, is the USDA's Ohio director of rural development. He exerted his influence in Washington, which brings to mind the importance of local appointments to state and federal boards and commissions.
In the end it all worked out and the project is a go. Credit for correcting one of Trumbull's areas of environmental concern - places where raw sewage is dumped into soil and waterways - gets spread among many local, state and federal officials, including the Trumbull County Planning Commission and the county commissioners who worked well together.
editorial@tribtoday.comOne of Steven LaTourette's last acts as a U.S. congressman was to help secure funding for the Kinsman sewer project in northern Trumbull County. But the real story here is how well local, state and federal officials worked across party lines to cut through a bureaucratic maze and solve a serious five-year-old problem.
Five years ago the Ohio EPA found a health risk because of failing or malfunctioning septic systems, a problem that continues to plague much of the county. This ''area of concern'' includes nearly 350 buildings that need connected to sanitary sewers. The cost is about $12 million, something neither the property owners nor the county have.
County officials worked on obtaining a mix of loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Ohio EPA and the Community Development Block Grant plus payments from the affected property owners. But here's how the government complicated the effort:
The USDA offered a $4.3 million grant and $4.9 million low-interest loan. The Ohio EPA offered a $2.9 million interest-free loan, half of which would be principal forgiveness. Trumbull also secured a $1.4 million public works grant and $1.2 million block grant. That's more than enough, so Trumbull wanted to reduce the USDA loan amount to save on interest.
Word came that the USDA would reduce its grant amount but maybe not the loan amount and that the other grants could be used directly on the project only, not to pay off the USDA loan early.
It took election-year influence from U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican, U.S. Reps. LaTourette, a Republican, and Tim Ryan, a Democratic, to convince the federal government to reduce how much Trumbull would borrow. It also helped that J. Anthony Logan, a Kinsman native, is the USDA's Ohio director of rural development. He exerted his influence in Washington, which brings to mind the importance of local appointments to state and federal boards and commissions.
In the end it all worked out and the project is a go. Credit for correcting one of Trumbull's areas of environmental concern - places where raw sewage is dumped into soil and waterways - gets spread among many local, state and federal officials, including the Trumbull County Planning Commission and the county commissioners who worked well together.